MANUFACTURERS - JUNE 2017

Daimler Trucks North America has appointed Jeff Allen as senior vice president of Production, Quality and Specialty Vehicles, and Stefan Kurschner as senior vice president of Aftermarket. Both join the Operating Committee.

Jeff Allen

Stefan Kurschner

Presently vice president of Operations at Detroit Diesel Corp. in Redford, Mich., Allen will head the company’s three business units starting August 1. At Detroit Diesel, he has led all facets of the Powertrain headquarters in Michigan and Detroit Axle Plant in Mexico. Kurschner, currently president and CEO of Daimler Vehículos Comerciales Mexico, brings over 25 years of Daimler global experience, including management positions in Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, USA and Mexico. He joined Daimler Trucks Mexico in September 2013, transitioning from the helm of Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing.

Peterbilt Motors Co. has received three Frost & Sullivan Manufacturing Leadership Council awards for the Dynamic Truck Test (DTT) program, Power Distribution Vision Inspection System and Self & Successive Inspection Project. DTT uses Six Sigma tools to identify the root causes of manufacturing non-conformities identified during a 100-mile test drive on randomly-selected production units. The testing is done with a focus on build quality and vehicle performance as they relate to electronic systems. Power Distribution Vision takes advantage of smart camera technology to ensure accurate and consistent installation of fuses during dash assembly. The camera system senses the hue, saturation and brightness of each fuse and alerts the operator if one of them is missing or has been installed incorrectly. Self & Successive Inspection leverages internal quality indexes to drive enhanced assembly and inspection processes preventing the creation and passing of defects during truck assembly.